Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Law Firms Offer Training Tied to Their Notable Practices

Some local law firms are designing large-scale training programs for current and prospective clients based on some of their most notable practice areas.

White & Williams lawyers and their clients will be heading back to college tomorrow. The firm is culling from its insurance law practice to hold its third annual White & Williams Coverage College where firm attorneys present a daylong symposium at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for insurance claim professionals.

More than 450 attendees from 140 companies and 19 states are expected at the event where they can learn about changes in the legal environment and trends that could affect the insurance industry in coming years. For the first time, White & Williams is also having more than 20 companies related to the insurance arena on hand for exhibits.

The courses focus on topics such as coverage of employment practices, construction defect claims, courts in the arbitration process, the subprime mortgage meltdown, valuing a loss and going green. Firm partner Gale White is dean of the college, whose title is registered.

White & Williams isn’t the only firm offering up course work.

Shortly before Wolf Block was no more, its subsidiary Wolf Institute came up with a set of CLE and HRCI accredited programs to help out-of-work attorneys and human resources professionals keep up-to-date with the latest news in their field.

But the plan was put on hold when Wolf Block lawyers themselves were in transition. Now that the labor and employment group is back at work at Duane Morris and has created the Duane Morris Institute, the programs are back on.

The institute is offering many of the same seminars at no cost to those general counsel and human resources professionals who are out of work. The courses are typically $125.

“In a tough time for all professionals,” Segal said in a statement, “we need to extend our reach to help people who are looking for work. We believe that the Institute’s courses will be both instructive on the latest developments in the field, and that they will make attendees all the more marketable as they search for new positions.”

The next seminar, scheduled for Thursday, examines the “wage and hour quicksand.” Other upcoming topics include ethics for in-house counsel, empowering supervisors to remain union-free and diversity danger zones.